When implementing web analytics programs I sometimes get the question why I use a combination of PHP/ASP and Javascript. What they probably don’t know is that server-side and client-side scripting can detect different specifics of a visit. Both types have advantages and disadvantages, but you need certain tricks to combine both. This article explains the differences and how to overcome their disadvantages. It is mainly written for people that know something about scripting, but need a quick reminder to fix certain problems.
Server-side or client-side web analytics (part 1)
July 25th, 2007Turn traffic into relevant traffic
July 6th, 2007Search engine marketing should be aimed at return-on-investment (ROI) and goals should be achieved with as little effort as possible. Because more and more industries are seeing the potential of search engines, it will become harder to rank for everything you want. This means getting relevant traffic will require a bigger investment and that in turn can ruin your ROI.
Choosing a less competitive market and search terms with high traffic volumes can get you much cheaper traffic. But does that convert into sales? Here are a few examples how to get cheaper traffic for a better ROI.
Getting any site to link to you
June 19th, 2007After a long discussion with a few fellow SEOs I think I made my point. They said: “You cannot get every site you’d like, to link to you. Most authorities and competitors won’t give their linklove.” and my opinion is: “You can get all the best authority links. Sometimes you just need an intermediate site.”
The best way to get any link, is to create content specifically as linkbait for that link or website. Normally a competitor will not intentionally link to you directly, but here’s where an intermediate site comes in. Use an existing intermediate or create your own one for full controll how the linkjuice is transfered.
Don't leave your fingerprints everywhere!
June 16th, 2007The Google algorithm changes slightly every day. Most of their very small algorithm changes are implemented to look for new signs of SEO spam. Most of the times when a new spam tactic is detected, it is verified manually and its characteristics are then fed to the algorithm. Google spamcops can also roundup all your spam manually aided by cool Google tools for internal use. So: “Don’t leave your fingerprints everywhere!” When one of your projects is caught, sacrifice it and save everything else you’ve build. (I type with my fingers, so I won’t call them footprints)
Search Verticals with Google Universal
May 24th, 2007Yeah! Google is giving easily spamable results more exposure in their search results. Untill now it wasn’t worth the hassle to optimize video, images, news, local or books. But thanks to Google Universal Search this content will start showing up in the normal results. How to optimize these types of content for search is still unknown to many SEOs, so be one of the first to know and make it your specialty. In this article I will focus on image search.
Blackhat: Using different identities
April 30th, 2007Every blackhat tactic can and will be detected one day. As long as you keep under the radar everything is fine, but you’re bound to get caught at least once in your career. And when you do get caught, you need to make sure only one of your projects will be affected. Search engines like Google are very good at linking different accounts to the same person, so a blackhat SEO needs multiple identities.
How do you hide connections between websites?
Google has crossed the line
April 16th, 2007So far Google was all about reading what normal users could read. If you made your website accessible to all visitors (including visually impaired), you had a perfect site for Google. Every guideline in the Webmaster guidelines has always been focussed on making a good website for users and forgetting about (spamming) search engines.
But now Google wants us to do the complete opposite. If links are extremely relevant to your users, but not contextual enough to search engines, you need to nofollow them or completely remove them to be able to score. Matt Cutts has written a few blog posts on nofollowing paid links.
What will they think of next? From now on you have to make your website for search engines and hope that it is ok for your visitors?!
Search reputation management
March 28th, 2007What can you do when search results on your name are full of negative comments? Potential customers are increasingly checking for online references before they trust a website, company or person. Your own website is the most important factor, but directly after that people use search engines to see what other sites say about you. In this article I will give tips how you can cleanse your online reputation.
Up-to-date SEO knowledge
March 17th, 2007How up-to-date does your SEO knowledge need to be?
I frequently talk to people that aren’t convinced that they need to keep their SEO knowledge up-to-date. “Old whitehat knowledge works just fine!” is what they say. And in some cases I think they have a point. Most SEOs don’t need to read all the SEO news everyday. But what changes do you need to check on a regular basis?
RAT link value checklist
March 8th, 2007A valuable link has Relevant Authority Transfer or RAT. This means it should convey authority on a particular subject to the website it is linking to. When searching for the right links, you can assess the value of a link by using the following checklist.